Wednesday, January 23, 2013

The mystery of Francisco Liriano’s broken right arm received some unsubstantiated clarification recently with a newspaper in his native Dominican Republic reporting he suffered it in a bathroom fall.

According to elcaribe.com, the newspaper’s website, Liriano fell days after the Dec. 21 agreement on his original two-year, $12.75 million contract with the Pirates, fracturing the humerus bone in the upper arm.

Citing a “source close to the player,” the report said Liriano’s right arm is in a cast. The report included no other details as to where or how exactly the left-handed pitcher had fallen.

The accident forced the sides to revisit terms of the original contract and reopen negotiations, which were finalized on Monday, according to FOXSports.com. The club had no comment, as Liriano still must pass a physical to formalize the agreement.

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From now on, whenever an athlete injures himself in the the off-season, all media reports will be required to say, "Player X hurt himself whilst snorting cocaine off a 14-year-old prostitute's ###." This would be incredibly unfair, of course, but I'll betcha it'll cut down on the injuries. (Plus, it's cool to see the word "whilst".)

Teams can do almost anything they want outside of outright saying "no" to keep players from doing the WBC... but they have yet to find a way to keep them out of the bathroom, where even more danger lurks.

Liriano had originally agreed to a two-year, $12.75 million deal on Dec. 21, shortly before fracturing his non-pitching arm during a fall at his home. According to Major League sources, the reworked deal is for one year, plus an option for 2014, and is guaranteed for $1 million, but Liriano can still earn the full $12.75 million through incentives.

Liriano's pact became official when he passed the requisite physical earlier Friday.